I am with MarkM 1100 Remington, great beginner gun and an even better gun till you have to give up hunting. I have been shooting mine over 40 years with no problems, just maintainence. Embrace your duck hunting addiction.

Force Fetch wrote:I am with MarkM 1100 Remington, great beginner gun and an even better gun till you have to give up hunting. I have been shooting mine over 40 years with no problems, just maintainence. Embrace your duck hunting addiction.

First gun I ever shot and is the only gun I will use for dove hunting.

Excell by Academy for $300. It is built on the locking block design like the 1100's. I have an Excell and two 1100's with Hasting Barrels. The Excell takes the Rem choke tubes. When I bought mine 6 yrs ago several had shot 1200 trap rounds thru them without a problem. Mine is a go to gun. Even pass shot Cranes with it. The gun is made in Turkey and distributed by H & R. Everyone that shot mine liked it. I also have an old 870, 935 and a Condor. Jon

I noticed your original post said nothing about being on a restrictive budget. It did say "reliable".For these reasons, I would advise staying away from the $300 junk autoloaders like the Excell, the Franchi, Weatherby, etc.The ONLY characteristic the Russian/Turkish guns can offer is low price. Get one of those and you'll be wishing for a good gun within two years, I can guarantee that.Stay with a Beretta, Browning, or Remington. In 3", you will find any autoloader by those three to be as reliable as an autoloader can be. You could add Benelli to that list, too. Buy used and you'll never own a gun that is worth less than what you paid.

Well I'm mainly leaning towards trying to find a beretta 390, from everything I've read it's a great gun. I shot one a few years back and it was soft so that's another plus as he hasn't shot much. And it's a pretty good budget for us to spend. I've seen that you can spend $500 and get one in really good shape I just haven't been able to find one. I've still got until mid June so I guess I'm hoping that one will pop up.

Benelli and browning are just out of our price. Guess I should've listed that we want to stay under 700 or so. We looked at the franchi but have seen mixed reviews. Also looked at a stoeger but heard way too much bad things.

MP153, Work great, Fit good in most cases and you can shoot the hell out of them and they just keep going. Camo versions are generally around $500 - $550. It was the only gas autoloader that I have ever been able to pull out of the water and keep on shooting it without it becoming a single shot. I only sold it as It is a bit heavier than I like in a field gun. Now I am looking at buying a new one as soon as my supplier gets some more in just because I like them. No, it will never replace my Benelli's but I will take an MP153 over a 935 or 11-87 any day.

I purchased a Weatherby SA-08 for my son 2+ years ago. I shot it and was so impressed with it that I ended up keeping it for myself as a back up. 2 years of duck hunting in the muck with it and every time I pull the trigger it fires. Had problems with a Browning Maxus not cycling and a Benilli SBE2 going click when the trigger was pulled, so the Weatherby has become my gun of choice. I trap shoot with it in the off season, and cannot blame any misses on the gun. The only drawback is the 3" chamber, if you want/need to shoot 3.5's. Some people don't like changing to the light/heavy pistons. But I have always made those changes while cleaning the gun, so it is not an annoyance to me.

My son ended up opting to try a Stoeger M3500 because it felt better to him. Only problem we have ever had with it, was it not cycling a couple of times on 25+ year old dove loads that I had found in my dads garage. On a side note, the Weatherby cycled them just fine.

Oil them, keep them clean, and most guns will make you happy. Spend some time at the gun stores, pick them up, handle them, shoulder them, swing them, and find the gun that feels the most natural. In the end, the right gun will choose you... if you let it.

Franchi affinity has my vote. I just picked mine up 2 weeks ago and has worked flawless! Ive shot 200 rounds through it with no jams and perfect cycling. Ive shot quite a few semis and this was one not on my list until I picked it up in the store and fell in love. Great gone for a decent price. By the way this was my first semi as well. Hope this helps